I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4237 

To increase public safety by permitting the Attorney General to deny the 

transfer of firearms or the issuance of explosives licenses to known 

or suspected terrorists, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 11, 2015 

Mr. ZELDIN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To increase public safety by permitting the Attorney General 

to deny the transfer of firearms or the issuance of explosives licenses to known or suspected terrorists, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect America Act 

5 of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANTING THE ATTORNEY GENERAL THE AUTHOR2 ITY TO DENY THE SALE, DELIVERY, OR 

3 TRANSFER OF FIREARMS TO KNOWN OR SUS4 PECTED TERRORISTS; REQUIRING INFORMA5 TION-SHARING REGARDING ATTEMPTED 

6 FIREARMS PURCHASES BY KNOWN OR SUS7 PECTED TERRORISTS; AUTHORIZING THE IN8 VESTIGATION OF KNOWN OR SUSPECTED 

9 TERRORISTS WHO ATTEMPT TO PURCHASE 

10 FIREARMS. 

11 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 

12 ‘‘Preventing Terrorists From Obtaining Firearms Act of 

13 2015’’. 

14 (b) AMENDMENT.—Section 922(t) of title 18, United 

15 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(7)(A) If the Attorney General is notified of a re18 quest to transfer a firearm to a person who is a known 

19 or suspected terrorist, the Attorney General shall— 

20 ‘‘(i) as appropriate, take further steps to con21 firm the identity of the prospective transferee and 

22 confirm or rule out the suspected nexus to terrorism 

23 of the prospective transferee; 

24 ‘‘(ii) as appropriate, notify relevant Federal, 

25 State, or local law enforcement agencies or intelVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:23 Dec 15, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4237.IH H4237

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1 ligence agencies concerning the identity of the pro2 spective transferee; and 

3 ‘‘(iii) determine whether the prospective trans4 feree is already the subject of an ongoing terrorism 

5 investigation and, as appropriate, initiate such an 

6 investigation. 

7 ‘‘(B) Upon being notified of a prospective transfer 

8 under subparagraph (A), the Attorney General or the 

9 United States attorney for the district in which the li10 censee is located may— 

11 ‘‘(i) delay the transfer of the firearm for a pe12 riod not to exceed 72 hours; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) file an emergency petition in a court of 

14 competent jurisdiction to prohibit the transfer of the 

15 firearm. 

16 ‘‘(C)(i) An emergency petition filed under subpara17 graph (B) shall be granted upon a showing of probable 

18 cause to believe that the prospective transferee has com19 mitted or is furthering a plan to commit an act of ter20 rorism. 

21 ‘‘(ii) An emergency petition filed under subparagraph 

22 (B) to prohibit the transfer of a firearm may be granted 

23 only after a hearing— 

24 ‘‘(I) of which the prospective transferee receives 

25 actual notice; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) at which the prospective transferee has an 

2 opportunity to participate with counsel. 

3 ‘‘(D) For purposes of this paragraph— 

4 ‘‘(i) the term ‘known or suspected terrorist’ 

5 means a person determined by the Attorney General 

6 to be known (or appropriately suspected) to be or 

7 have been engaged in conduct constituting, in prepa8 ration for, in aid of, or related to terrorism, or pro9 viding material support or resources for terrorism; 

10 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘material support or resources’ 

11 has the meaning given the term in section 2339A; 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(iii) the term ‘terrorism’ includes international 

14 terrorism and domestic terrorism, as defined in sec15 tion 2331.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. GRANTING THE ATTORNEY GENERAL THE AUTHOR2 ITY TO DENY THE SALE, DELIVERY, OR 

3 TRANSFER OF EXPLOSIVES TO KNOWN OR 

4 SUSPECTED TERRORISTS; REQUIRING INFOR5 MATION-SHARING REGARDING ATTEMPTED 

6 EXPLOSIVES PURCHASES BY KNOWN OR SUS7 PECTED TERRORISTS; AUTHORIZING THE IN8 VESTIGATION OF KNOWN OR SUSPECTED 

9 TERRORISTS WHO ATTEMPT TO PURCHASE 

10 EXPLOSIVES. 

11 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 

12 ‘‘Preventing Terrorists From Obtaining Explosives Act of 

13 2015’’. 

14 (b) AMENDMENT.—Section 843 of title 18, United 

15 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(j)(1) If the Attorney General receives an applica18 tion for a user permit, limited permit, or license to import, 

19 manufacture, or deal in explosive materials from a person 

20 who is a known or suspected terrorist, or receives informa21 tion under subsection (h) about a responsible person or 

22 employee who is a known or suspected terrorist, the Attor23 ney General shall— 

24 ‘‘(A) as appropriate, take further steps to con25 firm the identity of the applicant, responsible per26 son, or employee and confirm or rule out the susVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:23 Dec 15, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4237.IH H4237

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1 pected nexus to terrorism of the applicant, respon2 sible person, or employee; 

3 ‘‘(B) as appropriate, notify relevant Federal, 

4 State, or local law enforcement agencies or intel5 ligence agencies concerning the identity of the appli6 cant, responsible person, or employee; and 

7 ‘‘(C) determine whether the applicant, respon8 sible person, or employee is the subject of an ongo9 ing terrorism investigation and, as appropriate, ini10 tiate such an investigation. 

11 ‘‘(2) Upon receipt of an application or information 

12 described in paragraph (1), the Attorney General or the 

13 United States attorney for the district in which the appli14 cant, responsible person, or employee is located may— 

15 ‘‘(A) for a period not to exceed 90 days, delay 

16 the approval of the application or the determination 

17 to issue a letter of clearance under subsection (h), 

18 as the case may be; and 

19 ‘‘(B) file an emergency petition in a court of 

20 competent jurisdiction to prohibit the approval of 

21 the application or the issuance of a letter of clear22 ance under subsection (h), as the case may be. 

23 ‘‘(3)(A) An emergency petition filed under paragraph 

24 (2) shall be granted upon a showing of probable cause to 

25 believe that the applicant, responsible person, or employee 


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1 has committed or is furthering a plan to commit an act 

2 of terrorism. 

3 ‘‘(B) An emergency petition filed under paragraph 

4 (2) may be granted only after a hearing— 

5 ‘‘(i) of which the applicant, responsible person, 

6 or employee receives actual notice; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) at which the applicant, responsible person, 

8 or employee has an opportunity to participate with 

9 counsel. 

10 ‘‘(4) For purposes of this subsection— 

11 ‘‘(A) the term ‘known or suspected terrorist’ 

12 means a person determined by the Attorney General 

13 to be known (or appropriately suspected) to be or 

14 have been engaged in conduct constituting, in prepa15 ration for, in aid of, or related to terrorism, or pro16 viding material support or resources for terrorism; 

17 ‘‘(B) the term ‘material support or resources’ 

18 has the meaning given the term in section 2339A; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(C) the term ‘terrorism’ includes international 

21 terrorism and domestic terrorism, as defined in sec22 tion 2331.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. SUNSET. 

2 The amendments made by sections 2 and 3 shall 

3 cease to have effect after the 3-year period that begins 

4 with the date of the enactment of this Act. 

5 SEC. 5. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 

6 Not earlier than 18 months after the date of the en7 actment of this Act and not later than 3 years after such 

8 date of enactment, the Attorney General shall submit to 

9 the Congress a written report on the petitions filed and 

10 court orders granted under sections 2 and 3, including— 

11 (1) the number of petitions so filed; 

12 (2) the number of orders so granted; 

13 (3) the number of petitions that were denied; 

14 (4) the disposition of any arrest made after 

15 such an order was granted, including any charges 

16 brought and the outcome of those charges; 

17 (5) with respect to each of the matters de18 scribed in paragraphs (1) through (4), whether the 

19 subject of the petition or order was a United States 

20 citizen or foreign national and whether the allega21 tions involved domestic terrorism or international 

22 terrorism; 

23 (6) for any such order issued against a foreign 

24 national, whether a deportation proceeding was initi25 ated against the individual and, if so, the outcome 

26 of the deportation proceeding; and 


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1 (7) whether multiple petitions were filed against 

2 any individual. 

3 SEC. 6. CORRECTION OF THE TERRORIST WATCH LIST AND 

4 ‘‘NO-FLY LIST’’. 

5 Within 90 days after the date of the enactment of 

6 this Act, the Attorney General shall— 

7 (1) review the terrorist watch list and the no8 fly list referred to in section 44903(j) of title 49, 

9 United States Code, and any other list used by the 

10 Transportation Security Administration for purposes 

11 of identifying individuals who are prohibited from 

12 boarding aircraft because they pose a threat of ter13 rorism, and remove from any such list the name of 

14 any person erroneously placed on the list or other15 wise is not a known or suspected terrorist; and 

16 (2) submit to the Congress a written report 

17 that describes the steps taken to comply with para18 graph (1). 

Æ 


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